March 2, 1899
- Congress established Mount Rainier National Park in Washington
state.
March 20, 1899
- Martha M. Place of Brooklyn, N.Y., became the first woman to be
executed in the electric chair.
April 11, 1899
- Treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.
September 29, 1899
- Congress established Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).
October 11, 1899
- South African Boer War begins between the British Empire and the
Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State. The Boers, also
known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch
settlers of southern Africa. Britain took possession of the Dutch
Cape colony in 1806 during the Napoleonic wars, sparking
resistance from the independence-minded Boers, who resented the
Anglicization of South Africa and Britain's anti-slavery policies.
June 1900 - British forces had captured most major Boer cities and
formally annexed their territories, but the Boers launched a
guerrilla war that frustrated the British occupiers. Beginning in
1901, the British began a strategy of systematically searching out
and destroying these guerrilla units, while herding the families
of the Boer soldiers into concentration camps. By 1902, the
British had crushed the Boer resistance. May 31, 1899 - Peace of
Vereeniging was signed, ending hostilities. Recognized the British
military administration over Transvaal and the Orange Free State
and authorized a general amnesty for Boer forces.
October 18, 1898
- The American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain
formally relinquished control of the island to the United States.
December 10, 1898
- The Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the
Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first
overseas empire, the Philippines. Puerto Rico was ceded to the
U.S.
January 2, 1900
- Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to
prompt trade with China.
March 14, 1900
- Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.
April 30, 1900
- Hawaii was organized as a U.S. territory.
May 23, 1900
- Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Congressional
Medal of Honor for his bravery on July 18, 1863, while fighting
for the Union cause as a member of the 54th Massachusetts Colored
Infantry. He was the first African American to receive the Medal
of Honor, which is the nation's highest military honor.
June 20, 1900 - In response to
widespread foreign encroachment upon China's national affairs,
Chinese nationalists launch the so-called Boxer Rebellion in
Peking. Calling themselves I Ho Ch'uan, or "the Righteous and
Harmonious Fists," the nationalists occupied Peking, killed
several Westerners, including German ambassador Baron von Ketteler,
and besieged the foreign legations in the diplomatic quarter of
the city. Boxers, now more than 100,000 strong and led by the
court of Tzu'u Hzi, besieged the foreigners in Peking's diplomatic
quarter, burned Christian churches in the city, and destroyed the
Peking-Tientsin railway line. As the Western powers and Japan
organized a multinational force to crush the rebellion, the siege
of the Peking legations stretched into weeks, and the diplomats,
their families, and guards suffered through hunger and degrading
conditions as they fought to keep the Boxers at bay. On August 14,
the international force, featuring British, Russian, American,
Japanese, French, and German troops, relieved Peking after
fighting its way through much of northern China. September
1901 - Peking Protocol was signed, formally ending the
Boxer Rebellion. By the terms of agreement, the foreign nations
received extremely favorable commercial treaties with China,
foreign troops were permanently stationed in Peking, and China was
forced to pay $333 million dollars as penalty for its rebellion.
China was effectively a subject nation.
July 9, 1900
- Act of British Parliament established The Commonwealth of
Australia; united the separate colonies under a federal
government.
July 29, 1900
- In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I (crowned in 1878) is shot to
death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in
America (Paterson, NJ where he became a cofounder of an anarchist
newspaper, La Questione Sociale) before returning to his homeland
to murder the king.
August 14, 1900 -
International forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to
put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of
foreigners; fought its way 80 miles from the port of Tientsin.
1898 - Tz'u Hsi, the dowager empress, gained control of
the Chinese government in a conservative coup against the Emperor
Kuang-hsu, her adoptive son and an advocate of reforms. Tz'u Hsi
had previously served as ruler of China in various regencies and
was deeply anti-foreign in her ideology. 1899 - her
court began to secretly support the anti-foreign rebels known as
the I Ho Ch'uan, or the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists."The I Ho
Ch'uan was a secret society formed with the original goal of
expelling the foreigners and overthrowing the Ch'ing dynasty. The
group practiced a ritualistic form of martial arts that they
believed gave them supernatural powers and made them impervious to
bullets. After witnessing these fighting displays, Westerners
named members of the society "Boxers." Most Boxers came from
northern China, where natural calamities and foreign aggression in
the late 1890s had ruined the economy. Late 1899 -
open attacks on missionaries and Chinese Christians began. Early
June - an international relief force of 2,000 soldiers was
dispatched by Western and Japanese authorities from the port of
Tientsin to Peking. The empress
dowager ordered Imperial forces to block the advance of the
foreigners, and the relief force was turned back. June 13,
1900 - the Boxers, now some 140,000 strong, moved into
Peking and began burning churches and foreign residences.
June 17, 1900 - the foreign powers seized forts between
Tientsin and Peking, and the next day Tz'u Hsi called on all
Chinese to attack foreigners. Eventually, expedition of 19,000
multinational troops pushed their way to Peking after fighting two
major battles against the Boxers. Empress and her court fled to
the north. September 1901 - the Peking Protocol was
signed, formally ending the Boxer Rebellion. By the terms of
agreement, the foreign nations received extremely favorable
commercial treaties with China, foreign troops were permanently
stationed in Peking, and China was forced to pay $333 million as
penalty for its rebellion. China was effectively a subject nation.
September 17, 1900
- Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed.
November 6, 1900
- President William B. McKinley was re-elected; beat Democrat
William Jennings Bryan.
January 1, 1901
- The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed.
March 3, 1901
- An act of Congress created the office of Standards, Weights
and Measures as a separate bureau for the work previously
conducted by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Treasury
Department; July 1, 1913 - became the National
Bureau of Standards under the Department of Commerce.
March 4, 1901
- President William McKinley inaugurated for second term as
president.
March 4, 1901
- First advanced copy of inaugural speech (Jefferson-National
Intelligencer).
March 12, 1901
- Industrialist turned philanthropist Andrew Carnegie contributed
$5.2 million for the construction of sixty-five branch libraries
in New York City (2500 Carnegie-funded libraries established in U.
S. between 1900 and 1919).
May 1, 1901
- Pan-American Exposition opened in Buffalo.
July 1, 1901
- the U.S. Standards Bureau became effective; July 1, 1913
- became the National Bureau of Standards under the Department of
Commerce; 1988 - name changed to the National
Institute of Standards and Technology.
September 6, 1901
- President McKinley was shot and mortally
wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz (a laborer from Cleveland who
fell under the sway of charismatic leaders of anarchy such as Emma
Goldman and Alexander Berkman) at the Pan-American Exposition in
Buffalo, NY. McKinley was greeting the crowd in the Temple of
Music when Czolgosz stepped forward to shake McKinley's hand with
a handkerchief covering the .32 revolver in his hand and shot the
president twice at point-blank range. McKinley lived for another
week before finally succumbing to a gangrene infection on
September 14. Czolgosz took full and sole responsibility for the
assassination and was sent to the electric chair less than two
months later. On October 29, his last words were: "I am not sorry
for my crime."
September 7, 1901
- The Peace of Beijing ended the Boxer Rebellion in China.
September 14, 1901
- President William B. McKinley died in Buffalo, N.Y., of gunshot
wounds inflicted by an assassin eight days earlier. Vice President
Theodore Roosevelt, 42, was sworn in, becoming the youngest
president in U.S. history.
September 26, 1901
- Leon Czolgosz, who murdered President William McKinley, was
sentenced to death.
October 29, 1901
- President William McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was
electrocuted.
Charles Gates Dawes. Edited and with a foreword by Bascom N.
Timmons (1950).
A Journal of the McKinley Years. (Chicago, IL: Lakeside
Press, 458 p.). McKinley, William, 1843-1901; United
States--Politics and government--1897-1901.
John Dobson (1988).
Reticent Expansionism: The Foreign Policy of William McKinley.
(Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 216 p.). McKinley,
William, 1843-1901; United States--Foreign relations--1897-1901;
United States--Territorial expansion.
Murat Halstead (1901).
The Illustrious Life of William McKinley, Our Martyred President.
(Chicago, 472 p.). McKinley, William, 1843-1901; Anarchism and
anarchists.
--- (1901).
Life and Distinguished Services of William McKinley ...
(Chicago, IL: Memorial Association, 540 p.). McKinley, William,
1843-1901.
Lewis L. Gould (1980).
The Presidency of William McKinley.
(Lawrence, KS: Regents Press of Kansas, 294 p.). McKinley,
William, 1843-1901; Presidents--United States--Biography; United
States--Politics and government--1897-1901.
Lewis L. Gould and Craig H. Roell (1988).
William McKinley:
A Bibliography. (Westport, CT: Meckler, 238 p.). McKinley,
William, 1843-1901 --Bibliography; United States--Politics and
government--1897-1901--Bibliography.
Michael Kazin (2006).
A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan. (New
York, NY: Knopf, 400 p.). Professor of History (Georgetown
University). Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925; Democratic Party
(U.S.)--History; Politicians--United States--Biography;
Statesmen--United States--Biography; Populism--United
States--History; United States--Politics and
government--1865-1933.
Christopher Kenney (2006).
The McKinley Monument: A Tribute to a Fallen President.
(Charleston, SC: History Press. McKinley, William, 1843-1901
--Monuments--Ohio--Canton; McKinley, William, 1843-1901 --Tomb;
McKinley, William, 1843-1901 --Death and burial; McKinley National
Memorial (Canton, Ohio); Canton (Ohio)--Buildings, structures,
etc. Design and construction of the McKinley National Memorial in
Canton, Ohio. 100th
anniversary of its dedication in 2007 - construction
of the memorial, a look at President McKinley's life and
tragic death, a biographical sketch of architect Harold Van Buren Magonigle,
poignant dedication ceremony with keynote speaker President
Theodore Roosevelt.
Margaret Leech (1959).
In the Days of McKinley. (New
York, NY: Harper, 686 p.). McKinley, William, 1843-1901.
H.
Wayne Morgan (2003).
William McKinley and His America. (Kent, OH: Kent State
University Press, 488 p. [rev. ed.]). McKinley, William,
1843-1901; Presidents--United States--Biography.
Kevin
Phillips (2003).
William McKinley. (New York, NY: Times
Books, 192 p.). Historian. McKinley, William, 1843-1901;
Presidents--United States--Biography; United States--Politics and
government--1897-1901.
_________________________________________________
LINKS
McKinley Assassination: A Documentary History of William
McKinley's Assassination
http://mckinleydeath.com/about.htm
To some, President William McKinley may disappear into the ranks
of those American presidents whose accomplishments are
little-known, if they are known at all. Drawing on the work of
recent scholars (and their own keen interest in McKinley), the
creators of this website seek to provide information about
McKinley (and his assassination, obviously). In this process, they
have transcribed a host of important resources, including
articles, essays, editorials, news columns, sermons, and so on.
These resources serve both as a lens into McKinley's life as well
as American history and culture. With a homepage that features a
crisp design, visitors can look over such sections as "Quotes
About", "Documents", and "Resources". For those uninitiated into
the world of McKinley, the "Quotes About" area is a good place to
begin. Here they will find quotes about the man himself, his
assassin Leon Czolgosz, his successor Theodore Roosevelt, and the
assassination. The "Documents" area is a section that is well
worth visiting, as it contains a wide range of materials related
to McKinley's assassination, and a number of pieces of reporting
from the time that are quite valuable. Finally, the site also has
a series of indexes, which will help users structure their time on
the site in an efficient manner.
